Good day beautiful people
It’s past the deadline for this but I still wanted to participate in this self care and grooming edition. Well, I’ve written it but failed to post it but it can’t go to waste s here we go. 
OPTION 1
What is your minimalist daily beauty regime for morning and bedtime?
When I wake up in the morning, first thing I do is drink water. I consider this part of my beauty regime because you cannot have a properly hydrated skin without hydrating your insides first. Next thing would be to exfoliate my lips as I brush my teeth, I do this mostly by brushing my lips. My skin care routine is quite simple.
I first start with a face wash. My all time favorite face wash is the Cerave Renewing Salicylic Acid face wash with essential ceramides. It contains salicylic acid which exfoliates and cleanses the pores on a deep level. It is also very gentle and hydrating. Cerave products are generally good, unfortunately it didn’t get featured in the photos because I forgot to bring along with me to a visit my friend. 🤦🏾♀️
I know a lot about skincare and have also used tons of products in the past. Skincare is a game of trial and error so you keep trying till you find the ones that work best for your skin. I think that’s what turned me into a product junkie which I’m not anymore because I’ve learnt to choose my fighters wisely.
Second thing I do is use a soothing toner. I’m currently using Simple soothing Toner, I don’t really care much for toners but I just use it because they say it balances the PH level of the skin. A toner is a necessary part of skincare routine but it’s one that you can’t do without. The best toners are ones that are soothing and hydrating to the skin.
Next up is my Hydrating Serum. I currently use the Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid Serum. Hyaluronic acid is great for supplying hydration to the skin. It is an acid that is natural produced by the body, it is more surplus in babies but starts to reduce with age, so a replicant of it has been created in the labs and proven to be important for hydrating the skin. It leaves the skin feeling light and pumped.
Next step for my morning routine is the Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Formular which also contains Hyaluronic Acid. I’ve realized my skin fares better when it’s properly hydrated. So a moisturizer is meant to keep the hydration sealed into the skin, not as an occlusive but to keep the hydration from escaping the moisture barrier.
Last thing I do in the morning is use my Sunscreen. SPF is golden when it comes to skincare, even if I don’t have the energy to ggo through all my steps, I always try to cleanse and use my spf. SPF’s can be tricky when it comes to finding the one that works for your skin. Most of them aren’t designed for dark and brown skin tones so they end up leaving white cast on the skin. I’m currently using The Neutrogena Ultra-sheer dry touch; I’ve used better sunscreens than this and will be changing it in no time.
NIGHT TIME ROUTINE
For my nighttime routine, I start off with The Ordinary Squalene cleanser. After which I’ll use my foaming cleanser because double cleansing is a life saver. I wash my face each for sixty seconds. Massaging the cleanser into the skin for sixty seconds helps break down sebums and makes the ingredients in the cleanser have the time to work as they don’t actually get to stay on the skin like the other products.
Next step is the Simple soothing toner. After which I exfoliate. Mind you, I only exfoliate once or twice in a week. I use the Ordinary Glycolic Acid solution. Glycolic acid is a great exfoliant including Lactic acid and mandelic acid. They are called Apha Hydroxyl Acids (AHA) and they help encourage cell turnover. Immediately after applying this I go in again with my toner just to help calm and soothe my face.
On Nights when I don’t exfoliate, I use my Discoloration Correcting Serum by Good Molecules. This is a treatment for hyperpigmentation and it works just fine. Not sure I’ll be buying it again though, I just feel like trying something different like Arbutin or Retinol.
Next up is my hydration serum, moisturizer then I use petroleum jelly as an occlusive to seal everything in. I added a few drops of Vitamin E oil to my Vaseline for that extra goodness.
Now for my body, I use the black soap you see above, it is gentle and doesn’t dry out my skin. I like to use exfoliating sponges as I don’t body scrubs much.
I use the Simple Moisturizer for my body, it is meant for the face but I love it for my body though it’s quite small in quantity.
So that’s pretty much my skincare routine guys.
Thank you for reading.